Xiyao Wang was born in 1992 in Chongqing, China. The young artist lives and works in Berlin. Wang’s abstract painting can best be described as movementcaptured on canvas, as expressing a feeling of boundlessness and unbridled life energy. She combines various techniques such as oil and acrylic painting, chalk, graphite and oil sticks. Although her expressive lines draw on the tradition of Asian masters, she works without the classic materials of her homeland.

For Wang, who grew up in modest circumstances in a small country town on the Yangtze River in Southwest China, art was of central importance right from the start– her father is also an artist. Being not only talented, but also hard-working andambitious, she was accepted to study art at the renowned Sichuan Fine ArtsInstitute when she was eighteen. After graduating at the age of twenty-two, sheemigrated to Germany to discover new perspectives and broaden her view ofpainting, studying art for a further five years, three of them with Werner Büttner.

Wang prefers abstract painting as her direct and only form of expression. For her, a work usually begins with intensive inspiration, triggered either by external impressionsor by her own thoughts and feelings. This inspiration then flows directly into herexploration of form; the artist describes her artistic work as a nearly bodiless process, as if her soul is floating in the air while everything else becomes unimportant. Freefrom all constraint, lines weave together that find themselves in a constant state offlow, transformation and flight, seemingly wanting to break out of the frame.

Wang sees different materials as being like different people, each with its own personality and its own character. She combines a wide range of techniques, whichcomplement each other superbly in her works. Wang invites everyone to unlock their very own imaginative spaces in her paintings, feeling free to discover her work forthemselves and to connect it with their own story. Her works have an ability to sweepthe viewer along, allowing a journey into the depths of the picture. Contrasting starkly with European abstract art, Wang's lines are loaded with positive energy. In theChinese artistic tradition, she admits the beauty and joie de vivre which western arthas long since consciously encased in bitterness. Her paintings are a delicate, semi- conscious dance that inspires a feeling of happiness in the viewer, like being touchedby nature, akin to how one might feel in springtime.

Looking at the various phases of Wang's work, you can see that she has stayed true to her principles for years. Each individual painting is an important element in herbody of work. What links them all is a common approach and Wang’s striving to givevoice to her own strong inspiration in each piece.

Text by T. R. Böse, art historian – Berlin, 2021